The Florida Keys

I just wanted to drop in and say “hi!” We’ve been enjoying our anniversary trip and have kept to a steady schedule of relaxing and drinking coladas.

Unfortunately the weather hasn’t been the best down here. Lots of nasty clouds and some intermittent showers – not cool. We did luck out our second night when the clouds decided to part for our sunset cruise.

The Florida Keys seriously have the best sun sets.

Last night we ventured out to the highly recommended Marker 88 restaraunt up the road.

We sat outside and enjoyed the slight ocean breeze and amazing laid back island atmosphere.

I wish I had better photos. Nothing my phone took could do this place justice. They had rocking tables, gorgeous lights, and the food and drinks were top notch.

Derek and I started with the lobster and mango guacamole, which was so fresh and very flavorful. I would never have thought to add lobster to guacamole, but the flavor combination was spot on.

For my main dish I had the onion encrusted Maui Maui and baked potato. I rarely order a baked potato, but it felt right last night.

Awful photo, but I promise it was delicious. The onion flavor wasn’t overpowering and I thought the crust was perfect.

For dessert I had Key Lime pie. Obviously.

My plan is to overdose on key lime while I’m here. I can’t get enough!

If you ever stay in Islamorada I can’t recommend Marker 88 enough. It was the perfect place to have our celebratory anniversary dinner.

We’re staying in the northern Keys, but decided to take a day trip to Key West today.

It was an additional 2.5 hr drive from our hotel, but totally worth it thanks to the scenic drive. Miles and miles of gorgeous ocean views. I also had flashbacks to when we ran from Miami to Key West for Ragnar Relay. So many wonderful memories were made on this road!

We left early and skipped breakfast with the goal of dining with the roosters at Blue Heaven, our favorite spot in all of Key West!

They have the best Bloody Mary’s. Ever.

We had a 35 minute wait and scored a table outside with baby chicks just feet away.

We walked to the southernmost point and tried to guess which road Derek proposed on (it was the finish line of Ragnar Relay and we were both a bit fuzzy on the “exact” location). Eh. There was a pretty dock close enough. We opted for our “we got engaged here 2 years ago” photo there instead.

See? Pretty. 🙂

Then there were the typical Key West attractions.

And when it started to rain?

Duh.

On the way back to our hotel we stop at the seven mile bridge for a couple of cool photos.

I wish we had time to walk to Pigeon Key. I stayed there as a kid and even just being on the bridge was a cool walk down memory lane.

Alright time to get back to vacationing. Gotta love killing time on a road trip by blogging – three cheers for smart phones! 🙂

This whole post pulls at my heart strings because my family is from the Florida Keys. Just so ya know though — it’s actually spelled Islamorada not Islamadora (it’s where I’m from!). Obviously not a big deal, just something you might wanna fix 😉 your pics are awesome and it looks like you are having a lovely time!

I love the keys! It looks like you hit all the spots on my to do list! Blue Heaven is the best! Their lobster eggs benedict and bloody mary’s….I still have my Kinos from my trip like 4 years ago! Looks like a fabulous trip!Amanda Elizabeth recently posted..Pinterest Interpretation of New Year’s Eve

Hooray!! Looks like such a fun anniversary trip! All your pictures make me so excited – I’m going to Key West for my honeymoon in a few weeks. I’ve never been and it looks like the perfect vacation spot. Congrats on your anniversary and have fun 🙂kelly @ racesrepsramblings recently posted..Happy Holidays!

Ive been following your blog for a long time. My husband and I are heading to key west in two weeks for our anniversary and I am running the Key west half marathon. both of us have never been!!!I was wondering if you could email me some of the cool places for us to try. I put blue heaven on the list already! Your pics are great, cant wait to get down there.

Love it! That lobster guacamole looks AMAZING. We spent our honeymoon in Key West and while I got a lot of rude “uh..Florida?” comments when we told people we honeymooning there, I’m so glad we chose a place that is so easy to escape to. We can relive our honeymoon whenever we please! Plus sun, sand and alcohol.. what more do you need? ..Great, now I’m hankering conch fritters 😉

I’ve never been to Florida, but I’ve heard the Keys are beautiful, after your pictures, it’s now really on my list of places I need to visit, if only for the guacamole and lobster, sounds so good!Sarahf recently posted..Highlights of 2013: Running